(LE MARS)–More than 70 entries are lining up for the Ice Cream Days Parade in Le Mars today.
The parade moves from the Plymouth County Fairgrounds lineup west on Sixth Street Northeast to Central Avenue, turns south and through downtown Le Mars, past Foster Park and ends at Eighth Street South. The parade begins at 9 a-m.
KLEM Sports Director Denny Callahan will be joined by Brad Pick of Primebank for parade play-by-playon 1410 AM and 96.9 FM.
The third annual “Tour de Plymouth” bike ride leave the Hy-Vee parking lot at eight this morning for a 22 or 50-mile route in rural Plymouth County.
About a dozen local amateur chefs are showcasing their racks of ribs for Ice Cream Days today.
The “Grill ‘n’ Chill Rib Rally begins at nine at the Olson Cultural Event Center and judging is at 5:30 this afternoon.
Foster Park is Ice Cream Days headquarters for Art in the Park from 10 this morning until 4 this afternoon with professional art and gift items. Kids can be creative with free craft and art activities at Foster Park from 10:30 to 3:30.
Su Fu Du Drumline marches into Foster Park at 11 this morning to entertain after the parade.
The Ice Cream Days fun is up in the air from 1-3 this afternoon with the remote controlled Airplane and Helicopter and remote controlled Fun Fly north of the Le Mars Airport on Holton Drive.
“Artistic Flavors of a Textile Kind,” are displayed again today at the Le Mars Art Center from 1-5 and the Plymouth County Historical Museum serves Root Beer floats in the recreated Miller’s lunch. All five floors are open with the 1905 Study Hall project being showcased.
For more Ice Cream Days information www.lemarsiowa.com
(LE MARS)–A preschool program is beginning added to educational opportunities in the Le Mars Community School District.
Assistant superintendent Dr. Carl Turner says the program will begin September 2nd.
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Turner says morning and afternoon preschool will be offered for four-year-olds at Clark Elementary School.
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Applications are available on the district’s web site and week days at the Education Service Center at 940 Lincoln Street Southwest. The deadline to apply is July 16th.
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A new teacher will be hired for the program.
(LE MARS)–A golf outing raised more than 14-thousand dollars during the 13th annual Helping Children Benefit Golf Tournament at the city of Le Mars Willow Creek Golf Course.
Wells’ Dairy and the Floyd Valley Hospital Foundation sponsored the annual fund raiser for children’s services at Floyd Valley. Craig and Cristi Bauerly of Le Mars chaired the fund raiser . Craig Bauerly is a member of the hospital’s Board of Trustees.
Forty golf teams with 157 golfers participated. Craig Bauerly was a member of the championship flight which also included Mark Coffey , Al Pottebaum and Matt Sitzmann with a score of 58.
The golf benefit Tuesday raised just over 14-thousand dollars, including sponsorships from businesses. The hole and door prizes were also donated by area businesses.
Hospital administrator Mike Donlin says with the golf tournament the hospital again sees the truly wonderful support of the communities in the area. He says the hospital is proud that this tournament can help provide funds to buy equipment that will benefit pediatric patients and their families.
Lunch was provided by Archie’s Waeside, Timmy’s Catering, Wells’ Dairy and the hospital’s Dietary Department.
(WASHINGTON, D-C)–A Le Mars Community High School student is a national champion in History Day competition.
Palani Permeswaran received the recognition at the University of Maryland, College Park campus in the Washington, D-C area. The contest was June 13-17.
Permeswaran was named national champion in the senior research paper division at the National History Day Competition
His paper, “Chemurgy: Using Science Innovatively to Save Agriculture from Overproduction,” advanced from intensive research to success at district and state-level competitions prior to this week’s national competition.
Palani won the gold medal and a one-thousand dollar prize for his paper.
The top two students from each state in each of eight categories qualify for the national contest.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The general election campaign for governor is well under way, but some are wondering whether defeated Republican candidate Bob Vander Plaats could return for a third party run.
Vander Plaats hasn’t spoken publicly since the election, but members of the conservative Iowa Family Policy Center have talked with him about his future and won’t rule out a third party candidacy.
Vander Plaats received 40 percent of the vote in the June 8 primary, and if he mounted a third party campaign it likely would siphon votes from Republican nominee Terry Branstad in his race against Democratic Gov. Chet Culver.
Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford speculates that Vander Plaats’ reluctance to swat down third party questions could be an effort to ensure Branstad chooses a conservative running mate.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(Kiron)–Republican Congressman Steve King is making two appearances in Colorado today (Saturday), but not at events where he was invited, then “disinvited” to speak.
On Monday, King was on Gordon Liddy’s nationally-syndicated radio program and King accused President Obama of having a “default mechanism” that “favors the black person.” King accused U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who is also black, of failing to pursue some vote fraud and voter intimidation cases because those accused are minorities. A Republican congressional candidate in Colorado then cancelled King’s appearance at a fundraiser in Colorado this weekend. The Northern Colorado Tea Party “disinvited” King at its event, too. On Tuesday, King talked with Radio Iowa about his comments.
“I have no regrets about what I said,” King said. “I stand by what I said.” A woman in Loveland, Colorado who heard about the cancellations involving King invited him to speak to her “9-12 Project Liberty Circle.” She’s now organized a rally to show support for Arizona’s new immigration law and former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo is also scheduled to speak there. This morning, King is scheduled to speak at a school in Elizabeth, Colorado. He’ll be speaking at the June meeting of the Elbert County, Colorado Tea Party. Earlier this week, after King saw other invitations to speak in Colorado rescinded, King told Radio Iowa the “professional hyper-ventilators” have been trying to “twist” his statements about race.
“You’ve got the whole left over there,” King said. “I mean this is John Podesta, George Soros. They’re funding this thing. They’re driving this and the DCCC has also indexed in with them.” That’s the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — or D-triple-C. John Podesta was chief of staff for President Bill Clinton and is the founder of the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning think tank. George Soros is the Hungarian-born billionaire who has donated to the Center for American Progress and other organizations which have worked to elect Democratic candidates. (News report from Radio Iowa)
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Flood-weary Nebraska residents along the Elkhorn River are keeping a close watch on the weather.
The National Weather Service forecast up to 2 inches of rain this weekend in areas along the Elkhorn, including near cities such as Clearwater, Neligh and Norfolk.
After storms dropped 8 inches to 10 inches of rain last week, the Elkhorn swelled to record levels and flooded a long stretch of northeast Nebraska.
Weather service hydrologist Rick Sloan says the effect of weekend rains could vary widely. But he says a repeat of the flooding earlier this week was less likely than that the river’s water level would just fall more slowly.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Fifty-six-year-old Clyde Davis of Cedar Rapids walks with the aid of a cane, and he says his current legal problems occurred because he walked into a federal courthouse with the wrong one.
A security guard found an 18-inch blade inside the bamboo cane Davis was carrying June 11; resulting in a misdemeanor weapons charge that could mean two years in prison.
Davis said Friday his actions were inadvertent. He doesn’t know how he will plead.
Davis owns about a dozen canes. He said he was taking his nephew to an appointment at the federal courthouse and was running late, so he just grabbed a cane at random.
He said he and his nephew returned their cell phones to his car because were not allowed in the building, but he forgot that his cane had a blade in it.
DENVER (AP) Des Moines is among the 10 winners of the National Civic League’s 2010 All-America City awards.
The Denver-based group announced the winners Friday of the award recognizing communities that have addressed issues with innovative, grassroots efforts among public, private and nonprofit entities. League President Gloria Rubio Cortes says the cities represent what is working in American communities.
This year’s winners are: Chandler, Ariz., Lynwood, Calif., Rancho Cordova, Calif., North Miami, Fla., Acworth, Ga., Des Moines, Iowa, Salisbury, Md., Gastonia, N.C., Mount Pleasant, S.C., and El Paso, Texas.
To qualify, communities had to submit three examples of successful community-based problem-solving. This year’s winners addressed such issues as homelessness, obesity, economic development, low-income housing, improving schools and diversity and inclusion.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) State officials say Iowa’s unemployment rate dipped slightly to 6.8 percent in May from 6.9 percent in April.
That means about 115,400 Iowa residents were unemployed, which is 1,000 less than April.
Iowa Workforce Development director Elisabeth Buck says temporary hiring, mainly for U.S. Census Bureau workers, is mostly responsible from the gain.
But she says the unemployment drop is expected to slowly continue over the following months.
Iowa echoed the national trend, dropping from 9.9 in April to 9.7 in May.
In Iowa, the unemployment rate is up from around this time a year ago when it was 5.8 percent.
SITKA, Alaska (AP) The board of shuttered Sheldon Jackson College has fired its president, with the chairwoman saying the school needed a manager, not a visionary.
The Sitka Sentinel reports education consultant John Holst was named interim manager. He replaces David Dobler, whose ouster follows the University of Dubuque’s decision to end talks to take over part of the campus, citing lack of community support.
Board chairwoman Shirley Holloway says that experience underscored a need for someone who can manage what the board’s doing, not a visionary. Dobler said the move had been discussed “for quite a while” and didn’t surprise him.
Debt forced Sheldon Jackson’s closure in 2007.
Holloway says officials want to keep paying off debt and attract an educational group to run part of the campus. She says talks with local groups seem to be gaining traction.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) There are no reports of damage after a tornado touched down in Warren County south of Des Moines.
The Warren County sheriff’s office says a trained storm spotter confirmed that a tornado was on the ground Friday afternoon between Martensdale and Indianola.
An earlier line of storms Friday produced winds up to 80 mph in some areas, knocking down trees, branches and power lines across the state.
It was the second day in a row that severe weather has battered Iowa. Storms late Thursday produced numerous funnel clouds, tornadoes and large hail.
No injuries have been reported in the Iowa storms.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa. (AP) U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley says the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration has awarded a $5.5 million grant to Cedar Falls.
The Iowa Republican said Friday that Cedar Falls will use the funds to assist ongoing disaster recovery from the 2008 floods, including transportation infrastructure at the Cedar Falls Industrial Park.
The Economic Development Administration serves as a venture capital resource to meet the economic development needs of distressed communities throughout the nation.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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